Monday, 8 October 2012

Elite Swingsters - Watch Your Step (1980)

There is an abundance of information on the web to provide context for The Elite Swingsters - one of the foundation South African jazz bands that released their first LP back in 1958 (see flat international for details). Steve Gordon's music.org.za has a full and detailed biography. The Watch Your Step album appeared in 1980 soon after which the band receded from public view until a turn of events in the late 1980s led to the recordings Woza (1990) and A Call for Peace (1993).

And from the liner notes with a nod to the political pressure of the time: "There is no instrument to measure talent and potential. An artist can't be a prisoner of himself, nor of style, nor of reputation. He has to be free. Listen and see how free the Elite Swingsters are and how free they make you feel!"